KR20060050328A - Channel expansion communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a channel extension communication system for transmitting extended control data to an object driven by a remote control and improving its responsiveness. That is, in the present invention, the control data MP1, MP2, ... selected by the expansion encoder are always monitored in step S1, and when the operation state of no operation for a predetermined time is detected in step S2, the control data of the extended channel timed out is It is output in step S3. The wait time timer of the output extension channel is reset in step S10. In addition, when each expansion channel is not operated, control data of the expansion channel having the longest waiting time is outputted through steps S4 and S5. The operated extended channel is detected in steps S6 and S7, and the control data of the channel for which the standby time of the channel was long is output to step S9, and in the case where the operated extended channel is single, the control data of the channel is directly transferred to step S8. Is output. Therefore, when the expansion channels MP1, MP2, MP3, ... are set, the data of the expansion channel having a change in the control data is always output preferentially and the response can be improved.

Extended control channel, extended encoder, extended decoder

Description

Channel Expansion Communication System {CHANNEL EXPANSION COMMUNICATION SYSTEM}

1A and 1B are block diagrams showing an outline of a transmitter and a receiver applied to a channel extension communication system of the present invention.

2A, 2B and 2C are explanatory views showing the output timing of the control data of the channel CH of each main and the output timing of the control data of the extended channel MP.

Fig. 3 is a process flow diagram showing the operation of the microcomputer for selecting and outputting control data supplied to the expansion channel MP.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an extension decoder for taking in and storing control data inserted into an extended channel and distributing to each actuator.

Fig. 5A is a block diagram showing the principle of a transmitter for outputting control data for remote control, and Fig. 5B is a pattern of pulse trains constructed in units of frames output from an encoder.

6A and 6B are block diagrams and explanatory waveform diagrams of a decoder for outputting a pulse modulated (PPM) pulse train as PWM modulated parallel data.

7 is a block diagram of a transmitter having a channel extension function.

8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating output timings of control pulses output from the control channel and the extended sub-control channel.

Brief description of the main symbols in the drawings

21 pulse width detector 22 pulse width converter

23 data memory 24 pulse output timing generator

25 pulse outputs 26 FS memory (fail-safe data memory)

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control system for controlling a control object at a remote point based on control data transmitted by radio waves, and more particularly, a channel that enables a plurality of control data to be transmitted and received by an extended channel. An extended communication system.

Radio control (hereinafter referred to as radio control) technology is spreading by controlling devices or devices that move control information from radio waves by carrying control information on radio waves, etc., so that small models such as cars or ships can be moved as controlled objects. Manipulating objects is generally done.

In the case of a controlled object for radio-controlled operation capable of operation close to an aircraft or a real object, a plurality of remote operation data are required, and a control channel necessary for coping with the operation is time-divisionally allocated.

Fig. 5A shows an outline of a transmitter of such a radio controller, and the steering tool 1 is for steering a flying object or a vessel to be controlled, and has n (n = 4) joysticks or various settings. It is comprised by the switches 1a-1d.

The control signal output from the steering tool 1a-1d is input for each control channel (hereinafter referred to as a channel) CH of the encoder 2, and the encoder 2 has such a plurality of control signals having a predetermined frame period. Convert to pulse train and output.

The pulse train composed of a predetermined frame period is always modulated together with the carrier signal in the modulator 3 during the operation, and the modulated wave signal is supplied to the high frequency amplifying unit 4 (transmitter) so that, for example, an AM modulated or FM modulated radio wave is generated. To be transmitted to the controlled object.

5B illustrates a pattern of pulse trains configured in units of frames output from an encoder, and various operation signals of a controlled object, for example, direction rotation control, rising / falling control, speed control, and other control signals are provided in the channel 1, The pulse signals CH1, CH2, CH3, CH4 ... are converted into pulse signals by 2, 3, 4 ..., so that one frame is a pulse train repeated for example from 14 ms to 20 ms.

Also, in more detail, each interval of each pulse signal CH1, CH2, CH3 ... is arranged to change by a plurality of control information. For example, the interval of each pulse signal represents each pulse width, and the pulse width varies between 880 kHz and 2160 kHz in accordance with a plurality of control information having different control amounts. That is, set the center value of change to 1520 ms and change it to about 640 ms (about 60 degrees by the control rotation angle of the actuator). In addition, in order to indicate the end point of one frame, a synchronization signal (section without a pulse) of 5 ms or more is generated at the end.

This type of control information is always transmitted to the controlled object by radio waves. The controlled object, which is the receiving side, receives the received radio wave, for example, by a superheterodyne receiver and demodulates it. In the decoder for processing the demodulated received signal, the serial control signal transmitted from the controller on the transmission side is demodulated into a parallel control signal, and the control signal of each channel is separated and supplied to a servo motor or actuator having a magnetic control circuit. do.

Fig. 6A shows an outline of a decoder which separates and outputs a control signal of each channel from a demodulated series of pulse train signals PPM, in which a reset circuit 31 and a D flip-flop circuit for generating a detection output of a synchronization signal ( DFF, D flip-flop, 32, 33, 34, 35 ...).

The demodulated pulse train signal PPM is input as a clock signal of each DFF (32, 33, 34, 35 ...) constituting the shift register and is supplied to the reset circuit 31.

When the reset circuit 31 detects a low level period of about 5 ms in the pulse train signal PPM, the reset circuit 31 generates a reset signal R at which the output becomes a high level, and the signal is a shift register of the first stage. It is supplied to the D input of the DFF 32. Subsequently, subsequent pulses are sequentially transferred to the shift register, so that the control pulse signals CH1, CH2, CH3, and CH4 corresponding to the pulse intervals of the pulse train signal PPM whose position of the pulse is modulated as shown in the waveform diagram of FIG. 6B. Is output as a parallel signal from each stage of the shift register.

On the other hand, in the case of further upgrading the control content of the controlled object, there is a case of using a channel expansion device that simply extends the number of control channel data output from the conventional encoder 2.

7 shows an outline of a transmitter having such a channel extension function, in which parts identical to those of FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the case of this channel expansion, for example, an expansion encoder 6 is further provided which further extends the control data of the control channel CH4 of the main encoder 5 which processes the control signals of the four channels.

And the control signal of the steering tool 7a-7d further requested | required with respect to this expansion encoder 6 is supplied, and the control signal of each steering tool 7 is sub-control channel (henceforth an expansion channel) MP1. Are time-divisionally allocated to MP2, MP3, and MP4, and are output as extension data of the conventional channel CH4.

As shown in FIG. 8, the control data output from the transmitter having the channel extension function is extended to the timing of the channel CH4 while the control pulse signal of the channels CH1 to CH3 is output in the first frame 1F. Control pulse signal is output. In the next frame 2F, the control pulse signal of the extended control channel MP2 is extended following the control pulse signal of the channels CH1-CH3.

Similarly, at the timing of the data output of the channel CH4 of the third frame 3F, the control pulse signal of the extended control channel MP3 is output, and the control pulse signal of the expansion channel MP4 is output from the fourth frame 4F. In the last frame 5F in which each control pulse is sequentially transmitted to each of the extension channels MP1 to MP4, a SYN pulse indicating synchronization data is output at the position of the extension channel.

In this way, if the control data of the extended channels MP1-MP4 and the SYN pulse serving as synchronization information are sequentially assigned to each frame at the timing of the channel CH4, after the five fields have elapsed, seven controls of the channels CH1-CH3 and the extended channels MP1-MP4 are performed. Data can be sent to the controlled object.

In addition, the synchronous pulse SYN can be formed by a signal which is not output by normal operation, for example.

The channel extension system as described above has the advantage that the extension of the control channel can be simply performed by mounting the extension encoder 6 in the existing radio control transmitter, thereby increasing the usefulness of the transmitter. However, since each operation data of each of the extended control channels MP1-MP4 is transmitted every several frames, and in every case, every five frames, the response of the controlled object receiving the data is a response of the operation controlled in the normal channel CH. It is extremely bad compared to the characteristics.

For example, if one frame time is set to several tens of ms, the controlled object may respond to the control data of the extended channel several seconds after the operator's starting operation, which causes a problem of discomfort in the controllability.

Accordingly, the channel extension communication system of the present invention has been made to effectively solve such a problem, and time-divided into at least two control channels in one frame, and remotely controls the controlled object by the divided control channels. A communication system for transmitting control data, comprising: an expansion encoder for further time-dividing within one of the control channels to form an extended control channel corresponding to a plurality of control data, and the transmitted through the extended encoder. An extended decoder for restoring the received control data of the extended control channel, wherein the control data transmitted through the extended control channel within the one frame is a control data to be transmitted and the control amount to be compressed is changed; Characterized in that the data is output first. .

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the operation of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

1A and 1B illustrate a case where a main channel (m = 4) and an extended channel (n = 4) are used as the communication system of the present invention, and FIG. 1A is a transmission to which the communication system of the present invention is applicable. An overview of the device on the side is shown, and FIG. 1B similarly shows an overview of the receiving side device.

On the transmitter side, parts of the same function as those of Fig. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals. However, the control data output from the extended encoder 8 is output as compressed data of a conventional control amount as shown later. The operation tool 9 (ad) of this extended channel is used for operations with relatively little change compared to the control data supplied to the control channels CH1-CH3.

In addition, the receiver 10 provided on the side of the controlled object is a high frequency signal processing unit that normally receives radio waves supplied as wireless data. For example, a superheterodyne receiving unit that performs high frequency amplification, frequency conversion, demodulation, and the like. It is composed by.

The decoder 11 separates the demodulation signal for each channel CH1-CHm (m = 4) and outputs pulse width modulated control data, and the driving circuits 12, D1, D2, and D3 are parallel signals by the decoder 11. The actuators 13, A1, A2, and A3 driven by the control data of the respective channels converted into are driven.

The timing output of channel CH4 of decoder 11 is supplied to extension decoder 14. The extended decoder 14 has a synchronization detection function added so that control data of the subchannel (extended channel) to be the extended channels MP1-MPn (n = 4) is generated as a parallel output. For example, MP1-MP4 can be identified and output.

The control data of each extension channel output from the extension decoder 14 is supplied to the actuators 16, M1, M2, M3, and M4 via the driving circuits 15, D5, D6, D7, and D8.

2A, 2B and 2C illustrate timing waveforms of pulse width controlled control data output from each channel, in which FIG. 2A is a timing waveform of a main channel CH, FIG. 2B is a timing waveform obtained from an extended channel MP, and FIG. Explanatory drawing of output timing waveform of fail-safe data which eliminates the abnormal operation of a controlled object.

Each main channel CH is given, for example, a pulse width period (1280 ms) Tw of 880 s to 2160 s as the modulation region, and has a maximum of ± 640 s with a middle timing, for example, 1520 s as its center value. Modulation width of can be given. Also, this value is freely changed by each controller.

On the other hand, as an example of the extended channels MP1-MP4 of the present invention, as shown in Fig. 2B, the operation data is compressed to be 1/4, and the time width Tw is almost the same as that of the main channel CH. Operation data is output as an output pulse signal.

That is, in the case of the extended channel MP1, 1180 kHz is provided as the modulation region at 880 ㎲, 1220 ㎲-1520 에서는 in the extended channel MP2, 1560 ㎲-1860 에서는 in the extended channel MP3, and 1900 ㎲-2100 in the extended channel MP4. Is given as a modulation area.

In addition, the area indicated by a ruled line (bold line) indicates an adjacent portion of each extension channel for facilitating detection of the extension channel, and sets a dead pulse width to about 40 Hz.

As shown in Fig. 2C, the last 2140 ms to 2160 ms signal area FS is added when fail-safe data is generated when an error occurs in communication, for example, when a reception failure occurs. It is provided to be output from the side.

In the present invention, in particular, the data supplied to the extended channels MP1 to MP4 is assigned control data other than the control data frequently or always required on the controlled object side, that is, data with relatively little change in time, thereby improving responsiveness. It leads to the advantage.

For example, when the controlled object is a vehicle, data to be controlled at takeoff or landing, engine needle control, data for controlling the driving wheel, etc., in the case of a ship, control of a loading crane, Operation data of a branch, data used for miracle control, etc. are preferable.

In this way, the extended channel MP is obtained by adding the offset value Tof of the modulation center to the value obtained by dividing the time slot (slot) Tw of the main channel CH by the number n of extended channels.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2B, the offset value Tof (K) of each extension channel MP may be expressed by Equation 1 below.

Tof (K) = Tw / 2n + (K-1) * Tw / n

Provided that K = 1,2,3, ..., n, where n is the number of expansion channels.

Next, the processing flow diagram of FIG. 3 explains how the extended operation data is transmitted with respect to the output of the extension encoder at the transmitting side.

The CPU (microcomputer) controlling the output timing of the channel data on the transmitting side uses the timer function to determine the input state (with or without data conversion point) of the control data supplied to the expansion channels MP1-MP4 at step S1 at all times. The standby state (time lapse of which data does not change) is monitored, and it is determined in step S2 whether a predetermined time has elapsed with each operation tool being no operation state.

Then, when the predetermined time has elapsed, control data indicating the amount of operation of the expansion channel that has timed out is selected in step S3, and the control data is output to the expansion channel. In addition, in step S10, the standby time (timer) of the channel is reset to zero and returns to the first start point.

When a predetermined time elapses by no operation, it is determined in step S4 whether all channels have been made no operation. If all the channels of the extended channel MP are not operated and there is no change in the control data even if they do not time out, any of the extended channels MP1-MP4 in which the waiting time (the waiting time from the change of the data to the present time) is maximized. One control data is selected, and the current operation data situation of the channel is output in step S5.

If there is an extension channel operated in step S4, the extension channel is extracted in step S6. In step S7, it is determined whether there are a plurality of extracted extension channels. In the case where there are a plurality of data changed by the operation, control data of the channel having the larger waiting time up to that time is outputted first in step S9, and the waiting time of the channel is reset to zero. When the data changed by the operation is singular, the control data for the change of the singular operation data is output in step S8.

Therefore, when control data is changed in the extended channels MP1-MP4, for example, when the extended channel in which the control data is changed is MP1, the control data of the MP1 is preferentially outputted successively for each frame. The signal is transmitted to the controlled object.

Next, when the control data of the expansion channel of the MP1 is not changed and the control data of the expansion channel, for example, the MP2, is changed, the control data of the expansion channel of the MP2 is continuously output for each frame.

When no control data of the extended channels MP1 to MP4 is changed, data indicating the amount of operation of the extended data (extended data whose control data has been changed in the past) with the longest waiting time is selected and outputted. .

Therefore, in this case, that is, when there is no change in control data in either of the extended channels, control data of the extended channel having the longest waiting time among the extended channels MP1 to MP4 is sequentially output for each frame.

In this way, on the controlled object side, the operation amount can be refreshed at a predetermined timing even when there is no change in the expansion data in the storage means as described later.

In addition, in the normal channels CH1-CH3, control data is always transmitted for each frame.

4 is a block diagram of an example of an extended decoder on a receiving side. The pulse width determiner 21 detects which extension channel a signal currently input belongs to, for example, with reference to the timing of FIG. have.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, when a time slot (slot) of each expansion channel is formed, it is determined whether any time width of each of the expansion channels MP1-MP4 is detected as a control pulse signal. The determination is made.

The pulse width converter 22 receives the control pulse signal from the main decoder, receives information on which extension channel the control pulse signal received from the pulse width determiner 21 belongs, and detects the pulse width of the control pulse signal. After that, it converts the pulse width of the control data of the corresponding extended channel and writes it to the data memory 23.

For example, referring to FIG. 2B, when the pulse signal received by the pulse width converter 22 is MP1, the minimum pulse width of 880 ㎲ is subtracted from the pulse width of the received pulse signal and expanded four times, and then again. Control data conversion is performed by adding the main channel minimum pulse width of 880 ㎲. In the case of MP2, the minimum pulse width 1220 12 is subtracted from the pulse width of the pulse signal and increased by 4 times, and the main channel minimum pulse width 880㎲ is added to convert the pulse signal. After subtracting Q, it expands 4 times and converts control data by adding the main channel minimum pulse width of 880µs. In addition, in the case of MP4, the minimum pulse width of 1900 에서 is subtracted from the pulse width of the pulse signal and expanded four times, and then the minimum pulse width of 880 ㎲ of the main channel is added.

In this case, in the case of the extended channels MP1 to MP3 each having a modulation area of 300 mW, the pulse width of the control data converted by the pulse width converter 22 has a value between 880 mW and 2080 mW, but in the case of MP4 Since the assigned modulation area is 1900 ms to 2100 ms and the pulse width of the modulation is 200 ms, the pulse width of the converted control data has a value between 880 ms and 1680 ms. At this time, the pulse width of the converted control data is a value within 880 ns to 2160 ns used by the main channel, and its maximum value may not satisfy 2160 ns. This is because the pulse width of the control data of the extended channels MP1 to MP4 can be freely changed in accordance with the setting of each controller.

In another embodiment, all modulation regions of each of the extended channels MP1 to MP4 may be allocated identically. For example, when the modulation region of CH4 is given as 880 kHz to 2160 kHz as in the main channel, the same 275 kHz is allocated to the MP1 to MP4 as the modulation region. At this time, the dead pulse width is set to 40 mV between each channel, and 2140 mV-2160 mV is finally provided as an operation signal region for fail-safe data output from the receiving side. Therefore, in the extended channel MP1, 1155 kHz is provided as the modulation region at 880 ㎲, 1195 ㎲-1470 에서는 in the extended channel MP2, 1510 ㎲-1785 에서는 in the extended channel MP3, and 1825 ㎲-2100 확장 in the extended channel MP4. Is given as a modulation area.

When the pulse width converter 22 of the receiving extension decoder receives the control pulse signal and the extended channel information to which the control pulse signal belongs, the pulse width of the pulse is first detected and the minimum pulse width of each extension channel is detected from the detected pulse width. After subtracting and expanding 4 times, the control channel is converted by adding the main channel minimum pulse width of 880 ㎲. At this time, the pulse widths of the converted control data are all corresponding to between 880 ㎲ ~ 1980 ,, each controller is set to be controlled by the control data using 880 ㎲ ~ 1980 ㎲. Alternatively, in the case of extending and converting approximately 4.655 times instead of the above 4 times, the pulse width of the converted control data is 880 ns to 2160 ns.

The data memory 23 stores control data received from the pulse width converter 22 and the FS memory 26.

The pulse output timing generator 24 reads the operation data or the FS data of each of the expansion channels MP1 to MP4 stored in the data memory 23 upon receiving the input signal, and distributes the pulse timing to supply to a predetermined actuator. Output In the case of the present invention, the control data stored in the data memory 23 is distributed to the expansion channels MP1 to MP4 from the pulse output unit 25 for each frame period of the received signal so as to be output to the respective actuators.

FS memory (26, fail-safe data memory) stores fail-safe data. In this FS memory 26, data for securing the safety of the controlled object in advance from the FS storage controller 27 is written by the operation of the memory switch 28. For example, when the memory switch 28 is operated, the data of the MP1 to MP4 received at that time is written to the FS memory 26.

For example, when the receiver cannot receive the control pulse signal for a certain period of time due to a communication error or when the receiving main decoder detects that all the received data is lost, the control pulse signal is output at the timing shown in FIG. 2C. The fail-safe data stored in the FS memory 26 is written to the data memory 23 by the fail-safe operation signal, and the data of the data memory 23 is output to each of the expansion channels MP1 to MP4.

In addition, the communication width may be detected by the pulse width determiner 21, generate a fail-safe operation signal, and input to the pulse output timing generator 24 and the FS memory 26 to ensure stability of the controlled object. .

The timing circuit 30 has a function of synchronizing all signals provided by the CPU.

The present invention, for example, when controlling a controlled object consisting of a remotely operated model or a moving object, preferentially selects control data having a change and outputs from the expansion channel to an expansion channel for increasing the number of control data. In particular, the response to the operation transmitted in the extended control channel is improved, and the extension channel can be easily added to all the controlled objects.

In addition, it is possible to easily set an extended channel with improved response to a transmission / reception system such as a conventional radio control.

As described above, according to the present invention, when there are a plurality of control data changed as the control data supplied to the extended control channel, the control data of the longest elapsed from the previous output time is given priority among the plurality of control data. Since it is output, it is possible to prevent the responsiveness from declining even with an extended channel.

Further, since the encoder is constituted by a main encoder forming a control channel and a sub encoder (extended encoder) connected to a predetermined channel formed by the main encoder, it is possible to cope with a low cost transmitter even when transmission control data increases. It is especially useful as a radio transmission / reception system for radio adjustment.

In addition, by forming a data area for executing fail-safe operation when forming the expansion channel, a certain degree of stability can be ensured even when the control is broken due to communication failure or the like.

Claims (5)

A communication system for time-dividing a frame into at least two control channels, and transmitting control data for remotely controlling a controlled object by each of the divided control channels. An expansion encoder further time-dividing within one of the control channels to form an extended control channel corresponding to a plurality of control data; An extension decoder for recovering reception control data of the extension control channel transmitted via the extension encoder, The control data transmitted through the extended control channel within the one frame is controlled data to be transmitted and compressed control data is outputted first. Channel extension communication system. The method of claim 1, The control data transmitted through the extended control channel is configured to output the control data of the longer elapsed time from the previous output time among the plurality of control data when the control data has been changed. doing Channel extension communication system. The method of claim 2, The extended encoder or the extended decoder is connected to a main encoder forming a control channel, or a main channel formed of a main decoder. Channel extension communication system. The method of claim 3, wherein The control data supplied to the control channel and the control data supplied to the extended control channel are radio control data for manipulating a moving object made of a model. Channel extension communication system. The method of claim 4, wherein And when it is determined that the control data for the extended control channel is abnormal, fail-safe data is outputted from the extended decoder. Channel extension communication system.

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